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Cars you didn't know existed until very recently.


philibusmo

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The Opperman Stirling was a development of the Unicar from the company that produced the one wheel drive Motorcart.. Not a bad effort, it featured independent suspension and was said to have bothered BMC who were about to launch the Mini. At first it used a rear mounted 2 stroke but got a lot more promising when the company opted for the excellent Steyr flat twin, later fitted to Invacars. Unfortunately it did what it said on the numberplate after only a couple were built.

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I was pleased that Citroen weren't first in the field with that one seater van conversion featured earlier. Here is the 1952 Bond Mini truck which they shamelessly copied.

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Of course, the French company were unable to emulate the Bond's sophisticated wire cable steering and superb 197cc Villiers economy. The ignorant might mistake that floor mounted lever for the gears, but it is, of course, for starting the engine.

The Minicar family had no reverse gear, though it had a dodgem-like turning circle due to the engine being attached to, and pivoting with, the front wheel. To enable one to reverse an optional extra was offered in the form of a ratchet spanner- you could easily reach out and fit it to a nut in the centre of the rear hub. Once in place a couple of pulls would usually suffice to get the little shitheap up to the curb.

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Apparently (according to the owner), this beastie badged as a Verté Tempest is an Australian Ford (ford logo on the dash confirmed this) powered by an LPG only straight 6;

 

39936843922_0d9f122f1a_k.jpg20180129_142008 by RS, on Flickr

 

39258245154_927b55a0e8_k.jpg20180129_142019 by RS, on Flickr

Wowzers! That’s fantastic!

 

*goes off to do further research*

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Good gravy, that's quite the spot. 

 

 

Didn't think there'd be much call for an AU series Ford Falcon ute on these fair shores... even rebadged and running on LPG. Interesting that DVLA claim a 2005 manufacture as well as first UK registration date - this is the 1998-2000 pre-facelift version of the AU, with the all-new BA Falcon arriving in 2002, so they would have been well out of date by the time Verté started importing them in '02. There's bound to be a story in there somewhere...

 

attachicon.gifFalcon AU ute details.png

 

attachicon.gif2000_Ford_Falcon_(AU)_XL_utility_(25769377680).jpg

 

 

Still, quite a spot! And a tenuous AC link to Zelandeth's fleet, too...

 

 

What a Utey! Would. 

Also, I guess this has the infamous Barra motor?

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Another of theirs, the XEF. It's like someone has cut bits of pictures of other cars out a magazine and glued them together.

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Another pictures; in this one they've kept the 80's Merc rear lights, BMW 2002 rear quarter lights & c-pillars, and Fiat doors, but changed the Merc front end for something between an Ital and a Disco 1.

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I thought this was all potatoshop.  I was wrong

 

http://www.classiccars121.be/index.php/1984-gurgel-xef/

 

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1982-86 Gurgel XEF

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5767213259_86b4b10015_b.jpg

 

Yes, this was a regular production model available to the public. But only 250 were sold.

It was followed up with a two rotor model and the engine later became available in the Samara s well.

 

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I'm pretty sure Sam Glover owns one of them there Wankel Ladas. Goodness knows where he found it.

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